Crispr Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ: CRSP) announced its proposal to place Maria Fardis on the board of directors during the next yearly shareholders’ meeting.
According to its CEO, Samarth Kulkarni, the company is happy to add Fardis to its board. Kulkarni adds that Fardis has extensive experience in launching therapies for patients. For his reason, she would make a positive addition to the company. Fardis will join CRISPR when the company is trying to expand its therapy portfolio.
Fardis’ work experience
Since 2021 Fardis has played the role of venture partner at Frazier Life Sciences. She was also the CEO and President at Iovance Biotherapeutics and a board member between 2016 and 2021.
Fardis was also the COO at Acerta Pharma. She maintained this position between 2015 and 2016. Between 2011 and 2014, Fardis was the Chief of Oncology Operations and Alliances at Pharmacyclic. Furthermore, she held several leadership positions for Gilead Sciences between 2001 and 2011.
CRISPR’s technology platform
CRISPR is a company that focuses on gene editing to develop therapies via its CRISPR/Cas9 technology platform. The platform allows the company to make direct and precise changes to DNA.
The company has used its platform to develop solutions for regenerative medicines, oncology rare diseases, and hemoglobinopathies. The company hopes to provide solutions for patients with diseases with high unmet needs. For this reason, it has partnered with several companies.
When or comes to hemoglobinopathies, the company hopes to utilise its gene-editing therapies to treat sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia. The company plans to do this by increasing fetal haemoglobin.
Sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia are mutations that cause defects in red blood cells, thus limiting their oxygen-carrying capacity. They lead to a lower life expectancy, chronic hospitalisations, pain, and frequent blood transfusions.
Some of the companies that CRISPR has collaborated with include Vertex Pharmaceuticals, ViaCyte Inc., and Bayer. The company also operates through its subsidiary CRISPR Therapeutics Inc in the U.S. It also has its operations in Switzerland, where its headquarters are located; Massachusetts and Cambridge, where it runs its Research and Development projects and London, California, and San Francisco, where it has its business offices.
